Jennifer Nelson

Jennifer Clark Nelson is an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Washington. She specializes in drug and vaccine safety/effectiveness research using large observational healthcare data. She leads national initiatives, including co-leading the FDA Sentinel Initiative’s methods core and chairs the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) methodology committee. Her work focuses on statistical challenges in healthcare surveillance systems.

Education:

• PhD in Biostatistics, University of Washington
• MS in Biostatistics, University of Washington
• BA in Mathematics, Luther College

Research Interests: Causal inference, high-dimensional data analysis, longitudinal/multilevel modeling, and applications in cardiovascular and infectious disease epidemiology. Her methodological work emphasizes sequential analysis and improving real-world evidence generation.

Awards & Recognition: Noted for research contributions in vaccine safety monitoring (2022).

Professional Roles: Statistical leader for FDA Sentinel and CDC VSD, with affiliations at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute.